I have spent this week at the University of Surrey with Dr Sporea, researching semi-conductors and their use in transistors.

The STEM placement students are sending us weekly blogs all about their experience in the world of work! 

Work experience is great and it provides students with many benefits whilst gaining skills and helping choose the right future career path for pupils. Having work experience on a Curriculum Vitae will make a person stand out to employers as they will notice they have motivation and a real passion for work. It will also help to boost a students confidence in themselves!

See how Ross is getting on at the University of Surrey! 

Week one - 

"I have spent this week at the University of Surrey with Dr Sporea, researching semi-conductors and their use in transistors. After learning the basic physics behind transistors, such as the doping of different elements into the base material to increase the conductivity, I have begun to learn about the simulation software available, and started looking at some more complicated transistors, in preparation for writing my own programs to simulate different compositions and materials next week.

I have learnt lots of new physics (even if I am still getting my head round some of it), met some amazing staff and fellow placement recipients, and had the opportunity to use some really interesting equipment that I likely never would have had the chance to use – definitely makes the 2 hour train journey to the University worth it!"

Week two - 

"Last week, I continued my research placement at the University of Surrey. I began to modify existing code and create new programs to simulate different types of transistors, and began "sweeping" different variables to see what effect they have on the transistors operation, as well as saving images of their characteristics graphs for comparison and use in lecture notes. It can be somewhat repetitive (my largest program so far has 75 unique combinations for my different variables), but is still very interesting and quite useful for Dr Sporea for use in educational materials and lecture notes. 


This week, I plan to begin looking at some more complicated transistor types such as MOSFET and BJT, and how different materials in the contacts affect their operation."

                                                                                                                                                          - Ross